Community priorities following disaster: a case study from Tonga

Disaster victims have been thought to be disoriented and irrational to express their needs. Therefore they have been largely assessed through external observers. However, this study in the South Pacific Kingdom of Tonga suggests that disaster victims were capable of prioritising their needs to guide the provision of immediate help and later rehabilitation programmes. Some inconsistencies in the experiences of this study sample compared to large developing population centres (e.g. low disease prevalence after the cyclone) highlight the need for special consideration of small island states separate from those of the developing continents. Overall, this study explored a method of giving the community an opportunity to participate in their rehabilitations after a disaster. The validity of this approach needs to be tested for other communities.